EVOH Resin Driving the Recyclable Multilayer Film Revolution

Driven by the EU's Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUP), China’s “Dual Carbon” goals, and global brands’ ESG commitments, recyclable plastic packaging design has become an irreversible industry trend. However, the recyclability challenge caused by the material heterogeneity of traditional EVOH-based high-barrier multilayer films has long hindered their sustainable development. Since 2023, through material innovation, process upgrades, and recycling technology breakthroughs, EVOH-based multilayer films are rapidly advancing toward a new stage where high performance and recyclability are compatible.

I. Technological Breakthroughs: Three Innovative Paths for Recyclable EVOH Multilayer Films
(1) Monomaterial Compatibility Design
By improving the compatibility of modified EVOH polymer with polyolefins, “all-PE” or “all-PP” multilayer films are developed, enabling EVOH layers to be recycled together with the base material:

Borealis (Northern Europe): Launched Adflex™ Q100F compatibilizer, enhancing EVOH-to-PE interface bonding strength by 200%. This ensures consistent rheological behavior during melting, achieving 100% physical recycling for PE-based seven-layer films containing EVOH plastic.

Mitsui Chemicals: Developed Polar Modified PP technology, using maleic anhydride (MAH) grafting to enhance PP-EVOH compatibility. This innovation enabled the creation of a PP/EVOH/PP three-layer film, with recycled material directly usable for injection molding, retaining 90% of its tensile strength.

(2) Intelligent Separation Technology
For heterogeneous multilayer EVOH barrier film, new separation techniques have been developed to extract high-purity EVOH granules and base materials:

Dow Chemical’s RecycleReady™ Technology: Introduced a heat-sensitive adhesive between EVOH and PE layers. When heated to 160°C, the adhesive degrades, enabling automatic layer separation with EVOH material recovery purity reaching 98% (traditional methods achieve less than 70%).

BASF ChemCycling™ Chemical Recycling: Utilizes pyrolysis to break down EVOH-containing multilayer films into syngas, which is then synthesized into virgin-grade PE and EVOH barrier resin. This process reduces the carbon footprint by 60% and has been applied in collaboration with Unilever for closed-loop food packaging systems.

(3) Bio-Based EVOH and Biodegradable Material Composites
By incorporating bio-based materials and designing for degradation, traditional recycling challenges are mitigated:

Mitsubishi Chemical’s BioEVOH™: Uses 30% plant-based ethylene alcohol in EVOH production. Combined with PLA/PBAT in a co-extruded film, this structure achieves over 90% degradation within 180 days under composting conditions, certified by TÜV Austria OK Compost.

Covestro’s Evocycle® CQ: Developed an EVOH and bio-based PET composite film that selectively decomposes under specific enzyme catalysts, achieving an 85% EVOH layer recovery rate for reuse.

As a core supplier of EVOH packaging material, we are committed to actively participating in the recyclable multilayer film technology revolution. Recyclable EVOH multilayer films are not only a technical challenge but also a value reconstruction across the entire industry chain.

Let’s join forces to break through barriers and shape a greener future for sustainable packaging!